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Outside the Frame

A 2016 Blog Link-up

06 Jan 2016
in 4.6722222222222225 minutes read

I’ve been prayerful on this blog journey. I pray that I reach someone somewhere, and that I always do this in God’s glory. I pray that I don’t get caught up in the hustle and bustle and turn it into a popularity contest. But most importantly I pray that I might connect with some other mothers out there. God has been faithful in my prayers. For after just a short month, I have already made some wonderful, genuine connections.

I connected with Suzanne early on the prosepct of doing a link-up together. Suzanne, Jenn, and myself are hosting a link-up bi-weekly on our blogs and other social media under #outsidetheframe.

So what does #outsidetheframe mean? It’s simple. I was searching through Instagram when I came across certain community accounts that claim they post genuine snapshots of real life. But I noticed a trend. Most of the photography under these “real life” accounts was staged, professional-quality photography. I was having trouble with self-doubt because my life never looks that perfect. When I take my own photos, I find myself tidying up what is in the frame because I want it to portray a certain level of tidiness and control. Well what if we expose the whole picture to our readers and followers? Instead of tidying up everything within the frame, what if we showed you what our lives were like #outsidetheframe?

We’re not saying photography shouldn’t be pretty or it’s not a good hobby to have. We’re saying that sometimes it helps build community when you show what real life is like for you. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re a group of women who want to connect with other women on the raw basis of real life. I’m looking at this series through the lense of a mother, but you don’t have to be a mother to join us.

So let’s hit those main points again!

Who? YOU! Linking up with Suzanne, Jenn, and myself

What? A bi-weekly blog or other social media post responding to the prompt

When? Bi-weekly throughout 2016

Where? On your own blog, your Instagram, your other social media or all of the above!

How? Simply respond to the prompt, post it on your own social media or blog and then link-up. To link up with your blog, all you have to do is click ‘add my link’ on one of the host blogs (you do NOT have to link up on each host, just once will do!). Then hashtag #outsidetheframe to link-up on social media! I will primarily be participating here on my blog, Instagram, and Twitter.

January 6, 2016- New Year, New Goals: What is a resolution that you have had a hard time keeping in the past, and one that you have done a great job keeping?

So this week’s prompt is about the new year and the goals we all try so hard to complete. I wrote a post about this at the end of 2015, and I stick by what I said. But here’s the thing, until this year I’ve never followed my own goal setting advice for myself. There’s a real moment for you. I have never been one to set goals for myself, or even if I did I definitely didn’t follow the goals through. Then I wrote that post on setting goals, and I have to admit that I even inspired myself.

So I have a ton of goals for myself this year. I have a whole journal devoted to accomplishing my goals in 2016. But I won’t get into that with you. Instead I’ll share one with you that I’m working the hardest on every single day. To put it broadly, I want to become more organized. Without getting too specific I can show you what that looks like to me.

I posted this picture on Instagram last week. Isn’t my space beautiful? Look, I hardly have anything on my desk. I could find whatever I’m looking for in about 0.467 seconds. Are you telling me that your creative space doesn’t look that tidy and neat?

Well here’s your #outsidetheframe moment: neither does mine. Most of the stuff that usually occupies my desktop was thrown to the unmade bed behind me for this photo. So as part of my commitment to being a real life woman with #outsidetheframe moments, I am now going to show you what my desk looks like at this moment in time. Perhaps you’ll see why I need to work on organization in my life.

So there it is, my lovely readers. I’m a mess. I prefer a tidy house, but I don’t prefer to do it myself. So when I don’t have company coming over in the next 12 hours, my whole house is some variation of untidy. It’s okay though. I’m working on it.

So here’s where your participation comes in: you can link up below or post a picture of your #outsidetheframe moment for this week’s prompt of New Year, New Goals on social media using the hashtag.